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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsInside Ron DeSantis's Plan to Ride Anti-vaxxism to the White House
He was for the COVID-19 vaccines before he was against them, but now Floridas governor is all-in on vaccine skepticismand hoping to use the issue to outflank Trump on the right. With the presidential primaries looming, and MAGA activists angling to turn Trump against the vaccines he helped fast-track, experts fear anti-vaxxism could soon become an official plank of the Republican Party.On December 14, 2020, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, wearing a mask, watched expectantly as a FedEx truck backed up to a loading dock at Tampa General Hospital. The truck carried precious cargo: boxes of the very first COVID-19 vaccines. With a flourish, DeSantis signed the FedEx manifest. Today, we will have shots going in arms, he proudly declared.
At the time, Republicans across the country were eager to share credit for a singular feat in President Donald Trumps otherwise disastrous handling of the pandemic: the record-speed development of COVID-19 vaccines that offered hope of a return to normal life.
By the end of last year, however, DeSantiss vaccine cheerleading was a distant memory. On December 13, almost exactly two years after the FedEx delivery, he petitioned the Florida Supreme Court to let him empanel a statewide grand jury to investigate COVID-19 vaccine makers, particularly Pfizer and Moderna. It is against the law to mislead and misrepresent, particularly when youre talking about the efficacy of a drug, DeSantis said, comparing the vaccine push to the profiteering that drove the deadly opioid epidemic.
In January, the grand jury went to work looking for dark intent or false claims behind the lifesaving vaccines. It is slated to report its findings by January 2024. That would be just in time to potentially influence the outcome of the Republican presidential primaries, in which DeSantis is widely seen as a leading challenger to Trump, even though he hasnt yet officially declared his candidacy.
DeSantiss probe has experts worried that vaccine skepticism could become an official plank of GOP policy. The worst-case scenario is if it becomes a litmus test in the [presidential] primary, says Saad B. Omer, director of the Yale Institute for Global Health who has served on numerous US government vaccine advisory committees. Then all bets are off.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/03/desantis-antivax-florida-trump
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Inside Ron DeSantis's Plan to Ride Anti-vaxxism to the White House (Original Post)
Zorro
Mar 2023
OP
DeSantis wants power badly, he will do anything to become president...ANYTHING
BlueWaveNeverEnd
Mar 2023
#8
UTUSN
(70,494 posts)1. He ain't riding nothin nowhere
PortTack
(32,605 posts)3. Agree! I don't think voters are fooled. They see him as the trump do over
mcar
(42,206 posts)2. 1st question in any debate
are your children vaccinated?
EYESORE 9001
(25,808 posts)4. Go ahead and climb up on that horse...I mean Old Plug
Antivax is an Old Plug horse that wont carry you far.
The public is too jaded to fall for overwrought codswollop now. Living through a deadly pandemic will do that to a society. In the event some new contagion comes down the pike, those who stand in the way of a public health response may be paid far less heed than previously.
Cha
(295,899 posts)5. Like the Domestic Terrorist Rode
Birtherism to our WH? I can see him trying.. he's that much of a sack of shit.
sakabatou
(42,082 posts)6. If DeSatan was alive in 1918, he would rail against the flu vaccine
Phoenix61
(16,949 posts)7. There's the very real fact that many of those
anti-vax idiots aint voting for nobody cause they dead. They gave all for their beliefs.
BlueWaveNeverEnd
(7,520 posts)8. DeSantis wants power badly, he will do anything to become president...ANYTHING
Samrob
(4,298 posts)9. All of this is revenge for closing businesses. It's was all about the money vs lives. Money wins.